Re: PL/SQL Questions

From a procedure, I call a
function to read a long data field
on the db. The fuction assigns
the first 30 characters
of the value to a VARCHAR2 which
is returned to my procedure as a
VARCHAR2. The procedure then
RPAD(NVL(my_var, ' '),25)
the field so that it is of fixed
length. This field is
concatinated with others and
stored in a db table as a record.

A SELECT * of that table is
spooled to a file. A carriage
return or tab was being
interpreted and the data in my
fixed length file was shifted if a
tab was included or it carried
over to another line with the
carriage return. What step is
interpreting the characters and
would a translate or replace
prevent this???

Thanks,
Ed
J L Joslin
<jljoslin_at_worldnet.att.net> wrote
in article
<3646962c.228967995_at_netnews.worldne
t.att.net>...
> On 2 Nov 1998 23:24:23 GMT, "Ed

Wallace" <cdpdnospam_at_rpa.net>
wrote:
>
> Whether or not you need to do

something with the data depends on
your
> application. If you are

producing files which will be read
by a program reading
> fixed length records, i.e.;

SQL*Loader, you don't need to do
anything about
> characters like CR. A character

is a character. If you read 80
bytes, what
> does it matter if character 15

is an ASCII 13 (CR)? If you need
to replace
> them, it can be done with SQL

but it is somewhat convoluted.
>
> Jim Joslin, Managing Principal
> Oracle Consulting - Florida
>
> The statements and opinions

expressed herein are not to be
construed as those of
> Oracle Corporation.
>
Received on Mon Nov 09 1998 - 11:08:14 CST